Record breaking: Miami U earns more than $50 million in grants

Butler County Commissioners help school break mark
Miami University has set a record for grants - breaking the previous annual mark by 33% - with a big boost coming from the Butler County commissioners and their recent $10 million grant. (File/Journal-News)

Miami University has set a record for grants - breaking the previous annual mark by 33% - with a big boost coming from the Butler County commissioners and their recent $10 million grant. (File/Journal-News)

Miami University has set a record for funding grants - breaking the previous annual mark by 33% - with a big boost coming from the Butler County commissioners and their recent $10 million grant.

Miami, which like most schools operate on a fiscal rather than a calendar year, saw by June 30 a total amount of external funding - grants and contracts – of more than $50.9 million, or an increase of more than 33% of the previous record of $37 million in fiscal year 2023.

And, according to school officials, the $50.9 million earned in fiscal year 2024 was more than triple what Miami garnered in fiscal year 2017.

School officials cited a $10 million grant from the county commissioners for a joint Hamilton-based project as a significant part of Miami’s record year for collecting external funding.

Research in a variety of fields continue to be grant magnets for the school, said officials.

“The research enterprise at Miami continues to grow, building on the strength of our staff and faculty, and supported by continued investments,” said Rick Page, Miami associate vice president for research and innovation.

“From providing high-value services to the region to experiential learning for Miami students, the external awards are an example of the fantastic work going on at Miami,” said Page.

Earlier this year, Butler County Commission awarded Miami $10 million to develop the Advanced Manufacturing Workforce and Innovation Hub in Hamilton.

The project, led by Randi Malcolm Thomas, vice president of Miami’s Office of ASPIRE, and Ande Durojaiye, vice president of Miami Regionals and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Applied Science, “will bolster Butler County and the Southwest Ohio region’s strong manufacturing base and serve the needs of industry, residents, and students through training, education, and research,” said school officials.

Named “The Hub,” the collaboration among Miami, the commissioners, Butler Tech and the city of Hamilton will leverage the $10 million funding to attract future awards and foster applied research partnerships in manufacturing.

Miami enrolls a combined total of more than 23,000 undergraduate and graduate students at its main campus in Oxford and at its regional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown. The university, which is Butler County’s largest employer, also has a Learning Center building in West Chester Twp.

Sue McDowell, vice president for research and innovation at Miami, said the grants from outside sources continue to grow because of the quality of research programs at the school.

“This pursuit of external grants directly supports our educational mission,” McDowell said.

“Miami is a student-centered institution and the integration of teaching and research is at the heart of the goal for increasing grant funding. Grants provide not only equipment and supplies for doing research, but much more importantly, grants provide undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to do research and the wages to afford to participate.”

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